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Category: Iceland

08.08.08 Reykjavik – Arnarstapi – Hellissandur

by Garik and Lena

The rain didn’t stop this night. Lena waked me up at 0600 AM after she took a long hot shower earlier. We decided to pack out stuff and eat our breakfast on the bus to Olafsvik. Because of the rain it took us more then an hour to pack our stuff. We were afraid we’ll miss the bus from BSI station at 09:00 but we managed to catch the local bus #14 from the camp site to BSI station at 08:00! When we came to the bus station near the camp site we were the only people there, while I’m holding exact amount of money, 560 Kr. Then few couples have arrived and just before the bus came a bunch of young French students came, with huge backpacks and sacks in their hands, making it almost impossible to stand in the bus.

When we arrived to BSI station we had to run to buy tickets and catch the bus and while we paid for the tickets, the bus driver was very kind when he took our backpacks and threw them on the back seats of the bus. The cashier thought we are coming back to Reykjavik and so we paid 26000 Kr. but then we realized that this was to much and explained her that we are not planing to come back today, so we got 10000 Kr. refund.

The plan was to take 350a to Olafsvik and there to change the bus to 356 around the Snaefellsjokull National Park. So we asked the bus driver to stop at Olafsvik but he told us that this is the same bus that going till Hellissandur through Olafsvik and then he changes the number to 356. We then asked to get off, to spend half an hour or so, in Olafsvik, before we continue, but what happened is that the bus driver did very long stops at each town along the route, delivering some mail, newspapers and stuff that we were late of schedule having no time to see Olafsvik and that’s a shame cause we wanted to see the nice modern church there.

The 356 bus trip to Arnarstapi was a hell of a ride! The view was amazing, and the weather was so cold! We asked the bus driver to stop somewhere in the middle of the way, in some high place to take pictures of the icecap over the crater. When we reached Arnarstapi we had some time to hike along the shore till Hellnar (3km). We spent to much time at the start of the trail taking pictures, that we had to run at the end of the taril in order to get to the bus. 3km is not so close as we thought. Moreover, we had a fence on the way with a gate to pass and we weren’t so sure if we should go through or not, finally we asked someone who came from the other direction and told us that it is the right way!

After Arnarstapi we continued our journey and stopped in several places like the place where the monument of the first white woman who came to North America and gave birth to the first white people there, much earlier than Columbus discovered America. We stopped near some mountain from which we saw some cliffs emerging from the sea. The bus driver told us that this is an elf’s and fairy’s church. We ate there blueberries and blackberries. Finally we stopped at the Djupalonssandur, somehow we thought there will be some waterfall there but there wasn’t. Instead we saw wreckage of an old ship and a beautiful black beach. This is a place where fishermen were selected by their strength, they had to pick up the heaviest rock from 4 different rocks, I picked up third… 54Kg I think it was. We took couple of small black rocks, because the bus driver told us they bring luck. There is a maze somewhere near but we didn’t find it.

When we came to Hellissandur the first thing we did was to buy food for tomorrow. Then we did a small walk around the town, saw the small houses with grass on the roof, walked along the shore till the place that once used to be a harbour (till ~1975). The camp site is not so equipped, there are no hot water or showers. The place was empty when we came but when it got really late people started to show up, even Icelanders with their big camp-mobiles. We also read in our guide book that there is a pool in the town but the girl in the hotel that is running the camp site, told us that she is has been living there for two years now and doesn’t have a clue where the pool is! Also she told us, she couldn’t find a descent walk path near the town for all the time she spent here… Hmm… We have two days here, what the hell are we going to do?